Alex Lynn took his ninth Formula Renault UK Championship win of the season at Snetterton to maintain a 56-point lead with eight races over four weekends to go.
It was the perfect result after an incident in the first race, while attacking for the lead, which had dropped him from second to third position.
Lynn, 17, was on form yet again with his Fortec Motorsport machine at the Norfolk circuit. He lost out on pole position for race one by an incredibly narrow four thousandths of a second in the first session (although he was on target for a faster time when red flags flew for debris on the track), but he was able to take a solid pole for race two by 0.190 seconds.
“The times are so tight we’re all trying to push as hard as we can,” he said after the first session. “It was damp and I had a little spin on my out lap so I’m pretty happy with the final result. The second session was a lot smoother. I calmed everything down, got the warm-up procedure right on my tyres and drove it properly.”
Lynn settled into second place in race one, pursuing leader Jordan King as the duo eventually pulled clear of Alex’s major title rival Tio Ellinas.
On the penultimate lap, Lynn got a run on King going down the back straight and attempted to out-brake his rival into the Brundle left-hander. Unfortunately it resulted in contact, with both spinning. Alex continued to take third, as Ellinas gratefully sped to victory to trim the points gap.
There was certainly no way I wanted to hit him, said Lynn. I had to get on the grass to avoid him but he didn’t give me room so we had contact. It wasn’t the best race overall, but at least I got solid points.”
The second race provided recompense, with Alex taking his ninth win from 12 Formula Renault UK races this season. He came under some pressure from Fortec team-mate Will Stevens, a race winner in the Eurocup having a ‘guest’ outing in the UK series this weekend, but stayed firm to win by just over a second.
“It was a pretty good race,” said Lynn, who from this year is a member of two highly-prestigious young-driver talent initiatives: the MSA Team UK scheme and the British Racing Drivers Club’s SuperStars programme.
“I think me, Will and Tio behind him all had similar pace, but you struggle when you’re behind someone on a circuit like this where it’s so difficult to overtake. That made my life easier and enabled me to take an important win after what happened earlier. It’s been a great end to the day.”
Fortec team manager Russell Dixon said: “In the first race, he thought he could win it, but it was a move that didn’t pay off – but that’s what happens sometimes and you certainly wouldn’t want to take the racing driver out of him. It was nice that he got composed again to win the second race comfortably and show what a class act he is.”
As part of the ultra-popular British Touring Car Championship package, the Formula Renault UK Championship enjoyed live coverage of its second race at Snetterton on ITV4 and ITV4 HD, and was streamed live at itv.com/touringcars. The next race weekend is at the hugely-attended World Series by Renault meeting on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit on August 20/21, where Alex will compete in Formula Renault UK and the Formula Renault Eurocup.
